The invention relates to a system for managing internet connections routed across an internet communications network comprising two or more domains, and to a domain manager and a domain boundary controller for supporting the management of internet connections routed across an internet communications network comprising two or more domains.
The invention is based on the present-day standard management of internet connections on the internet in which the service quality of internet connections is assured by the introduction of new protocols which influence the routing and switching of internet connections in part up to layer 3 of the OSI protocol stack (OSI=Open System Interconnection).
Service platforms are also known, such as the TINA service platform (TINA=Telecommunications Information Network Architecture) described for example in the article xe2x80x9cTINA Service Architecturexe2x80x9d by A. Conchon et al., published in the magazine xe2x80x9cAlcatel Telecommunication Reviewxe2x80x9d, 1st Quarter 1998.
In addition to providing an IT platform for telecommunications services, a service architecture and TINA services, TINA also provides a business model. This business model allows different roles supported by the TINA architecture to be allocated to the various participants in the provision of a service. As a result, charge metering of the services provided by the various participants is also supported by the TINA architecture. The TINA platform thus offers a type of marketplace for services and networks.
The object of the invention is to facilitate the provision of a specific service quality for specific internet connections within an internet communications network.
This object is achieved by a system according to the invention for managing internet connections, a domain manager according to the invention for supporting the management of internet connections, and a domain boundary controller according to the invention for supporting the management of internet connections.
Each domain is provided with a domain manager assigned thereto for managing the service quality for internet connections within the particular domain and with one or more domain boundary controllers for monitoring the boundary of the particular domain. The domain manager is designed such that, to assure the service quality of internet connections, it communicates with the domain boundary controllers of the particular domain to which it is assigned and, by transferring service parameters, authorises these domain boundary controllers to permit the establishment and maintenance of special internet connections under special conditions across the boundary of the domain into the domain. The domain boundary controllers are in each case designed such that they monitor the establishment of internet connections across the boundary of their particular domain into their particular domain and permit the establishment and maintenance of internet connections across the boundary of their domain into their domain only for those special internet connections, and under those special conditions, for which they have been authorised by the domain manager assigned to their domain.
This concept is not limited to internet as network technology but can be applied for any connetionless network technology (i.e. X.25).
The advantage of the invention consists in that it facilitates an effective and comprehensive assurance of service quality for internet connections. The invention enables service quality for internet connections to be introduced on a broad basis on the internet without having to accept the disadvantage of allocating all the available resources for this purpose.
Moreover, the distributed architecture of the system according to the invention facilitates an improvement in the average service quality available for internet connections by optimising the utilization of resources while nevertheless minimising the computation- and coordination outlay required for this purpose.
Advantageous developments of the invention are described in the sub-claims.
It is particularly advantageous to implement the domain manager as a TINA component which interacts with other TINA components on a TINA platform. If both ends of an internet connection are assigned the roles of parties in a TINA service session initiating the provision of the resources for this connection on the internet, it is possible for all the users of an internet connection to be debited with the charges incurred in the overall system for the service quality which they have requested.
It is also advantageous to initiate the provision of a specific service quality for a specific internet connection by means of a TINA service session assigned to this internet connection. It is also advantageous to manage the infrastructure and charge metering of the allocation of resources by means of the TINA business model.
It is also advantageous that the domain manager manages all the resources required by internet connections within the domain to which it is assigned. This permits the dynamic assignment of network resources to users, as well as the implementation of security checks and charge metering for these resources.
It is also advantageous that other TMN tasks (TMN=Telecommunication Network Management) than configuration and accounting management can be performed by this concept. Such tasks are for example fault management, performance management and security management.